I've been busy this last week working. My boss called me up on Monday to see if I'd take a case (after quite a few weeks of nothing). During our phone conversation, she marveled that I was one of the few contractors left – the company decided they want to do all their work in-house, leaving a lot of people, like my old officemate, in the lurch – and I told her, you simply can't argue with flexibility. I can still spend my entire day with the girls, doing our various activities, since I put in my hours late at night after everyone's gone to bed. Of course, that also means that sometimes I'm working on the weekends to make deadlines, but again, it's late at night, so no one's really missing me. And for the hours that I am working, it's good money.
So starting last Thursday we're going to be getting a box of vegetables and fruits every week from Full Circle Farm down in Washington state. I don't know how long FCF has been shipping produce up here, but it's one way Alaskan's have been combating bland fruits and veggies. With the shortened growing season, despite the oodles of sunlight, the time for farmer's markets are relatively short – and once they're done, we have to rely on places like Carrs/Safeway and Costco, i.e. small selection, mostly bland and under-ripe. I guess that's what we get for living in the Last Frontier. But admittedly, it could be a lot worse.
Our first box was mostly good, a few disappointments. A lot of the items on offer are grown right at the FCF farm, and the majority of the rest are grown in the northwest. So I guess I was a little shocked when I saw that my kiwis were from New Zealand – should it be considered a true kiwi if it isn't? – and my broccoli wasn't proudly labeled with anything. The baby bok choy looked like they picked it a week earlier, but I was terribly impressed with my red kale (a new veggie for me) and the golden delicious apples. I don't know about you, but of the latter, I've only ever had mealy ones anywhere, so I was impressed when it was both crunchy and juicy. I almost have to laugh at myself when I get excited about good tasting fruits and vegetables.
